Facebook goes public with record IPO

Facebook IPO: World's largest social network set to go public

Update 4:00 p.m.: For the final half hour of trading, shares of Facebook bobbed between near the initial offer price of US$38. Although it looked like Facebook might finish the day up slightly, it appears the stock closed out the day right where it started, at US$38.

Update 3:35 p.m.: As we enter the final half hour of trading, shares of Facebook are once again hovering near their initial pricetag of US$38. At the same time, we have learned that Facebook will be added to the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index on June 15.

Update 2:53 p.m.: Just like other major tech IPOs throughout Silicon Valley history, Facebook’s debut on public markets is expected to put a significant strain on the personal relationships of many of the social networking giant’s employees and investors who suddenly find themselves as instant millionaires, according to April Dembosky and the Financial Times.

Update 2:30 p.m.: As we approach the three hour trading mark, shares of Facebook are trading up between 5% and 6%, currently at about US$40.10. However, Facebook’s IPO doesn’t appear to have been too kind to other Internet stocks, with Zynga still trading down about 9% — its shares have been halted twice today — LinkedIn Corp. down about 3% and other GroupOn Inc. is down more than 6%. According to the New York Times, there are a few theories for the drop off, one of which might be that investors bought shares in other Web companies as a substitute for Facebook, and are now dumping those investments in favour of the real thing.

Update 1:38 p.m.: So we’re about two hours into trading on Faceook’s IPO birthday. Shares are holding pretty consistently up about 8% to just over US$41.20. Still no big pop, and it’s looking less and less likely that a spike is in the cards today. While nearly 330 million shares have changed hands today, that number is beginning to slow somewhat from the initial frenzy that greeted the stock upon its debut.

Update 1:27 p.m.: As he so often does, Conan O’Brien puts it all in perspective for us …

Today, Facebook went public, just as MySpace’s last user went private.

Update 1:26 p.m.: Interesting story from Reuters about investors who are attempting to short Facebook. “Shorting the Facebook IPO on its first day of trading is not for the faint of heart, but some traders are trying…”

Update 1:21 p.m.: So, if you’re Mark Zuckerberg, and you just watched your company enjoy a US$100-billion IPO, what do you do for an encore? Apparently, if you’re a 28-year-old Silicon Valley whiz kid, you return to your coding roots. According to a recently story from Bloomberg Businessweek, Mr. Zuckerberg has set a goal for himself for 2012, one which will see him work on his computer coding every day this year. (Via Huffington Post)

Update 1:05 p.m.: Mathew Ingram, writing for GigaOm, has a theory for the Zynga sell off earlier today:

I think the drop in Zynga etc. was probably FB arbitrage -- those stocks were a proxy and now traders can get the real thing

Update 12:32 p.m.: We’re only about an hour into trading, but so far, no big first day pop for the Facebook IPO. Some analysts will no doubt see this as a sign that the company priced its IPO correctly, while others will no doubt panic. Still lots of time left today to see how this all shakes out. Currently shares are trading around US$41.40, up roughly 9%.

Update 12:29 p.m.: Looks like shares of Zynga are now unfrozen and are climbing, now down about 6% after initially falling 13% to US$7.17 shortly after Facebook’s opening.

Update 12:21 p.m.: Nearly 250 million shares of Facebook have changed hands today. To give you an idea of that kind of volume, Apple Inc.’s 6 month average trading volume is about 18.7 million shares per day.

Update 12:17 p.m.: We’re hearing reports that CIBC and RBC are telling its retail investor customers that due to high volumes for Facebook trading, fills are delayed. Facebook shares are back up over US$40.30.

RBC sent the following note to its retail investors:

“Please be advised due to higher than expected volumes, the Nasdaq exchange is experiencing delays with updating fills for executed orders for Facebook. This is impacting all firms. As a result of this delay, fills may not be displayed on Order Status. In the interim, please do not modify or cancel MARKET orders, as it may have already been filled.”

Update 12:07 p.m.: Business Insider explains one reason why Facebook may not be falling below US$38. Hint: it’s got something to do with a huge perma-bid at US$38.

Update 12:05 p.m.: Shares of Zynga, which were sent freefalling 13% shortly after the Facebook IPO, have been halted, according to CNBC and the Wall Street Journal.

Update 12:00 p.m.: After hovering near the US$38 initial pricing, shares are back up nearly 2% to US$38.72. Probably unlikely that many of the big investors who got in on the ground floor of this IPO would be willing to ditch at below US$38.

Update 11:48 a.m.: Don’t look now, but shares of Facebook are trading close to the initial price of US$38.

Update 11:46 a.m.: Shares of social gaming giant Zynga Inc. are trading down about 13% today, dropping sharply right around 11:30 a.m., when Facebook went public. Could fears of a weaker than expected IPO from Facebook be to blame?

Update 11:43 a.m.: Facebook opens at US$42, and pulls back to about US$40. Currently, shares are trading at about US$40.28, a roughly 6% jump from the US$38 posting price. A not insignificant jump, and in line with what some analysts believed the stock would do today. However, it’s early, and things could change very quickly. We’ll be following the stock throughout the day.

Update 11:36 a.m.: Shares of Facebook enjoy an initial pop, jumping to US$43.20, but have now pulled back slightly to US$40.11, up roughly 5% so far.

Update 11:31 a.m.: Shares of Facebook open at US$42.99, up roughly 13%, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Update: 11:30 a.m.: While the world waits for the Facebook IPO, it’s worth noting that Bono, the lead singer of the band U2, is set to become the world’s wealthiest musician — surpassing Sir Paul McCartney — thanks to his investment in Facebook.

According to NME, Bono owns about 2.3% of Facebook through his private equity firm Elevation Partners, which were purchased for about US$90-million in 2009. If Facebook winds up with a US$100-billion valuation, that would make Bono’s stake in Facebook worth about US$1.5-billion, according to NME.

Update 11:26 a.m.: As one of hundreds, if not thousands, of financial reporters around the world covering the Facebook IPO, it would be awesome if this eventuality did not happen.

Update 11:20 a.m.: Shares still not trading. Lots of paperwork still to be done apparently.

Update: 11:13 a.m.: Wall Street Journal is reporting Facebook could open at $42 with 65 million shares trading.

Update 11:08 p.m.: Facebook IPO has been delayed again. Now Nasdaq is saying 11:15 for kick off. Some of the FP reporters in the newsroom who have covered lots of IPOs are saying we could be waiting until 1 p.m. for this to start. We’ll keep you posted.

Update 10:28 a.m.: According to TechCrunch, some of Facebook’s engineers rigged the NASDAQ button to actually post a status update on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook timeline that read: “Mark Zuckerberg listed a company on NASDAQ – With Chris Cox and 4 Others.”

According to David Garcia, a senior software engineer at Facebook, some of the social network giant’s engineers connected the main Nasdaq button to a mobile phone, so that when Mr. Zuckerberg pressed the button, it would automatically generate a Timeline status update on his Facebook page. Read the story to find out how they did it.

In an alternate universe, the Winklevii twinsies are ringing a NASDAQ bell right now.

Update 10:20 a.m.: Not surprisingly, Mark Zuckerberg has updated his status on Facebook to coincide with the company’s listing on the Nasdaq stock market. His status, posted at roughly 9:30 a.m. ET reads “Mark Zuckerberg listed a company on NASDAQ. — with Chris Cox and 4 others.”

You can check out the status here. Thanks to @lheron at the Wall Street Journal for posting.

Original Post:

Mark Zuckerberg is getting ready to make a whole bunch of new friends on Wall Street.

Later this morning — reportedly around 11 a.m. ET — shares of Facebook Inc., the company behind the world’s largest social network, will begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market as part of the Menlo Park, California-based company’s initial public offering (IPO).

Facebook shares will be priced at US$38, a figure which could net the eight-year-old company more than US$18-billion, and value the firm at more than US$100-billion. If that happens, it will be the first time in U.S. history that a company is worth US$100-billion at its debut, according to Reuters.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the IPO will be released for quotation at about 10:45 a.m. before trading, according to a notice by the exchange group.

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